At one of our faculty meetings recently, the leader lost her internet in the middle of the meeting so we carried on by discussing any recent books we’d loved. I mentioned a book called Picking Cotton, by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, and Ronald Cotton.

This book, if you haven’t read it, is amazing. It’s the story of a young white woman who was raped by a black man, and the man who went to prison for the rape. It turned out that he was actually innocent, and the amazing thing is the way he forgave his accuser.

Anyway, that led one of the members of the committee to invite to join her reading group. I’m always up for a good read, so I agreed. The first book is James by Percival Everett

I’m about a third of the way into this, it’s very interesting and sparked a good discussion yesterday. However. Right after I started this, the latest Karin Slaughter, who is one of my favorite authors, came in. I’d put this on hold the day I learned it was being published. Because it’s brand new, I wanted to read it quickly so the other people waiting for it wouldn’t have to wait forever.

Her books are quick reads but it still took me away from James. After the meeing, I realized that we’re actually meeting every week and I need to finish James by next Wednesday. I went to the library website to reserve the next book for the group and saw a message – two books I had reserved were in. Oh dear Lord. One is the latest Cormoran Strike book. I’ve been waiting for this book for months, it was just released on September 2nd, I was about peeing myself with excitement!

I went to the library and picked up the two on reserve as well as the next one for the group. If you need me, I’ll be on the porch with a book. For the next two weeks.